Anthony B. Pinn is a professor of humanities and religious studies at Rice University in Houston. He has been critical of the prosperity gospel preached in some Black megachurches for its lack of emphasis on community service and charity. He is the author of Why, Lord?: Suffering and Evil in Black Theology and editor of Redemptive Suffering: a […]

Stephanie Mitchem is a professor of womanist theology and African-American spirituality at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. She is the author of Name It and Claim It? Prosperity Preaching in the Black Church (Pilgrim Press, 2006).

Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. is pastor emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ, a predominantly African-American megachurch in Chicago. He participated in a conference of African-American pastors concerned with the effect of prosperity gospel in their churches. Trinity’s mission statement includes a “disavowal of the pursuit of middleclassness” and commitment to work toward economic parity.

R. Drew Smith is a Baptist minister and professor of urban ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He has studied and written about black megachurches and has edited four volumes on American religion and public life, including New Day Begun: African American Churches and Civic Culture in Post-Civil Rights America.

Esdras Betancourt is director of the Hispanic Ministries department of the Church of God, in Cleveland, Tenn.

Gerald R. Barnes is executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs, whose mission is to assist the Catholic Church in its efforts to serve the large Hispanic population in the United States.

Jeremy Gunn is director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s new Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. The ACLU filed an amicus brief in support of UDV.

Lee Boothby is a civil rights and employment lawyer in Washington, D.C. He was vice president of the International Academy for Freedom of Religion and Belief, which filed an amicus brief in support of UDV.

Anthony Picarello Jr. is associate general secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He filed an amicus brief supporting UDV on behalf of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.